Diabetes and Cannabis

This study, published in 2013 in the American Journal of Medicine, looked at over 4500 patients over a five year period and found that cannabis use was associated with lower levels of fasting insulin and smaller waist circumference. “The most important finding is that current users of marijuana appeared to have better carbohydrate metabolism than nonusers,” says Murray Mittleman, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the lead author of the study. “Their fasting insulin levels were lower, and they appeared to be less resistant to the insulin produced by their body to maintain a normal blood-sugar level.”